The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1887-03-25
SITE CT FORT OUIATENOk.
Historian Beckwith COrrects Some EsSl
rors Respecting Early Indian History.
the Wabash-An Historical Point Settled
Collects "Black Rock" the Place.
the Editor of the Indianapolis journal:

10 tHe Luitor OF Inc indianapolis J0urnai.
The following paper on disputed points of the his.
tory of Indiana and the upper Wabash was prepared
by Judge II. +. Beckwith at my request Judge b. =
French English history of Indiana and illinois gath a
ering hundreds of volumes and manuscripts(
Of rare and expensive works, and developing
Morse | found that Ouiatenon was locality
which ought to be be recogni1abe at At my visit to
ton given, and was the only point that did. On the
spot noticed evidences of fire. chimntys, etc.
which settled the question. Errors should not be
perpetuated. JOHN. CoLLETT.
Professor John COLLECT:
received your letter and also the Indianapolis
Journal of Saturday, the 18th inst, containing
an article from the Charlottesville journal re-
lating to the Early Indian History-The Tribes
that Formerly Occupied Indiana-The Settle
ment at Wea Town." ETC. AS you have init
mated, the article referred to is Of itself, highly
interesting The author of it, however, in fol-
lowing unreliable sources of information, has
been misled into several erroneous statements.
Two or three of these the writer hereof will
endeavor to correct.
First, the Miami tribe was subdivided into
several clans, the four principal ones of which,
and the best known in Anglo-American history,
were the Miamis, the Eel-rivers, the Weas
and the Piankeshaws. Their reoccupation Of .
the valleys of the Maumee-which is only
anothrs name for Miami, and until subsequent
to 1912, called the miami Lake" to avoid
confoundng it with the Miami that flows into
the Ohio below Cincnnati-and the Wabash.
whence they had been driven by incursions of the
Iroquos, is noted by officers of the French
| colonial government as early as 17lS. at which
time their several principal villages were situ-
ated at. or near the same places as given by
| American observers at subsequent periods. We
| quote from memoir prepared in Ills, by q
French officer in Canada, and addressed to the
Minister of the Home Government, at Paris,
where the original is still preserved.
81 return" he says, ITO the Miamis river. Its
entrance from Lake Erie is very wide, ard its
banks on both sides. for distance of ton leagues
up, are nothing but continued swamps abound
| ing at all times especially in the spring, with
game without end-swans, geese, ducks. cranes.
etc.-whch drive sleep away by the noise of
their cries. This river is sixty leagues in length
very embarrassing in summer because Of the (
lowness of the water. Thirty leagues up the riv-
or is place called La Glaise [Au-Glaize river.
that emptes into the Maumee at Defiance, O.,
from the French word 'glsise.' meaning clay or
| loaml, where buffalo are always to be found
They eat the clay aud walow IN it"
The Miamis are sixty leagues from Lake
Erie [near Fort Waynel. and number 400, ali
| good-formed men and well tattooed; the women
are numerous. They are hard working. and
raise a species of maize unlike that Of our In.
dams at Detroit. This nation is clad
in deer skin, and when q woman goes with an.
other man, her husband cuts off her nose and
refuses to see her any more. They have plays
and Dances wherefore they have moro occupar
ton. The women well clothed. but the men
use scarcely any covering, and are tattooed all
| no nod
'FRONT.' this Miami village there is portage
la carrying place. of three leagues to very lit.
tie and very narrow stream 1.-THE Ahoite, which
flows into Little river and the latter, that falls,
after course of twenty leagues, into the-6hf0
Wabash, just below Huntingdon which dis.
charges into the Ouabache [Ohiol, fine river
that falls into the Mississippi forty leagues be-
low the Cascaschias kas-kas kasl into the
Ouabache [Ohiol also falls the Gas qui min aurpo
1.-THE TennesseeI, which communicates with Caro-
lima" 1t must be borne in mind that, with the
exception of LaSalle, who possessed better
geographical knowledge of the Ohio valley at
most all other early French writer's refer to the
Ohio river as the Wabash below the confluence
of the latter. And this practice became 60
habitual that it prevailed until as late as 1850
even long after thorough explorations had made
it well known that the Wabash was the tribu.
tary. while the Ohio was the principal stream
But to resume quotations: 1.-The river
| Ouabache is the one which the Ouiatenons
sde." There is no letter w in the French al.
phabet, and the Gu is used as a substitute. hav-
ing substantially the same sound as the English
W. With this spelling-Wia-tenon-we per.
ceive the source from which the purely Anglo.
American term ''Wea" or 'Weau" is derived.
''The Ouiatenons,' says the French Officer
named. consist of five villages which are con.
tiguous to each other One is called Ouiatenoa,
the other Peanquichas IPiankeshawsl, and an.
other PettisCotias [Tippi-cousl, and fourth
|. LIE Gros The Great] The name of the last
! do not recoect; but they all Ouiatenons,
. having the same language as the Miamis, whose
, brothers they are and properly all Miamis'
|, These Ouiatenons "have CUSTOM" says this
author. quite different from all other nations,
!, which is to keep their fort extremely clean, moi
allowing blade of grass to grow within it The
whole Of the fort is sanded like the Tuileries
1.-THE royal palace grounds at Paris The vii
lage is situated on high hill, and they have
over two leagues OF Improvement, whore they
raise their Indian corn. pumpkins and melons.
5 From the sumit of the elevation nothing is WISH
t Bile to the eye but prairies full of buffalos.
, These Indians dance and play incessantly.s
etc
when the French discovered the Wabash tha
. Piankeshaws where found in possession Of the
! land on either side from its mouth TO the Yer
million river" and they ''are tribe of the large
confederacy family, which obtained the gen.
eral appellation of Miamis from the superior
size of the particular sub-tribe to which the
: latter name more properly belonged" taie.
. | At a later day the Piankesnaw Miamis gave
;. their clan name to the Vermillion river Wide
" manuscript treaty of September, 1892 at Vim
cennes, lnu, IN the Wrlter6 poSsesSlont; the
same as the Oniatenons die theirs to Wea creek
q and the prairie through which it meanders,
i though without survvorship in the former, as
y | in the latter instance.
o Second-The primitive fort of the Weas was,
l. probably, on the same 'high HILL" where :he
French subsequently erected the etockade, or
a Fort Ouiatenon, of historic note. The latter
: stood on the north west bank OF the river.
q ana not the south side, ns stated by the
: writer of the article under review. After the
:. close of the French colonial the British
:, placed small garrison In the fort, of whch
y | I'd Ta,,Lip ,vc nd